And it’s been true so far. Clearly, he’s not easily frustrated. But he was with Ryan Kesler and Kurt Overhardt.

On his first day in the office, one of the first calls he took came from Kesler. He wanted to meet. And now.

“I just kind of inherited it,” Benning said. “I heard from the outside what was going on. But when you take over a job, you hope for the best.

“That wasn’t going to be the case.”

From there, the Kesler drama hit him like a bag of hammers. Literally every day.

“I talked to (Kesler’s agent) Kurt Overhardt every morning and before I went to bed every night,” Benning said.

“I said to Kurt, when my wife was in Boston with the kids, ‘I only talk to my wife once a day, but I talk to you twice a day.’

“He got a good laugh out of that.

“There was a lot of threats both ways. Kurt would phone and yell and scream at me. I’d yell and scream at him. We’d put it to bed.

“The next we’d wake up and start all over again.

“That’s what happened.

“I wish Ryan all the luck. We want players who want to play for our team.”

Threats? Screaming? Two-a-days?

Uh, wow.

And people thought Kesler could come back?

BEST QUOTE

This is Ryan Kesler in April:

“When your name gets thrown around trade-wise, it’s tough. It’s never happened to me before in my career.

“I leaned on these guys (looks at Bieksa and the Sedins) in that time and they helped me through it.

“This is the only city I know besides Michigan. I love it here. Hopefully, I can stay.”

Poor guy.

BEST TRADE

By cutting his list of teams from six to two, it was a bush move by Kesler. And it fed Benning and the Canucks a shit sandwich.

It’s unclear why he took Pittsburgh off the list — “Ask him.”

But it royally f’d over the Canucks.

It left them with two teams to deal with, Chicago and Anaheim. Really, it was one team, because the Hawks couldn’t easily afford 17.

Benning wanted to get this done before the draft and he was right to want that.

I’ve always been underwhelmed by the Kesler offers. Looking back now, maybe part of it is the bad rep attitude thing which is making the NHL rounds.

I still think the Canucks needed upside or skill in the trade and they didn’t get either. But man, this was a tough spot for Benning.

Yes, the offers were better before the deadline in March. The 10th overall was offered in one package. Emerson Etem in a couple of others. Some are convinced Smith-Pelley was in a package, others say no to that one.

That was the time to trade him. The team who got him then would have been looking at three postseason runs.

How much is on Gilly and how much on Aquilini, who sure wanted to keep Kesler?

That’s an equation which hasn’t yet been answered.

BEST REASONING

You ready for the meat and potatoes Canucks?

The Canucks wanted size and edge with No. 6 and they knew they were either going to take Jake Virtanen or Michael Dal Colle.

“We zoned in on those guys,” Benning said. “It was either Dal Colle or Jake.”

The Nylanders and Ehlers of the draft weren’t seriously considered at six.

“We wanted guys, if you watch the NHL players, you need guys with size and strength. Guys who can get to the net and deflect pucks to get rebounds.

“We were looking for that style of player. We were happy that’s where we ended up.”

Dare I say, Boston Model?

What about the Russians who were available at No. 24 when they took Bo Horvat Lite?

Specifically Ivan Barbashev?

“No, didn’t really consider a Russian,” Benning said.

And here comes the money quote:

“We’re going to get back to a meat-and-potatoes type style of in the trenches, play hard. So, we never gave it much consideration.”

According to a few people that follow the OHL closely, McCann is, and not just on the ice. He can be difficult, a little prickly, a little surly. “He has a bad attitude,” one scout noted. Another suggested it’s pretty strange for a kid ranked as highly as McCann to be left off Hockey Canada’s Summer Development roster. “He clearly rubbed someone the wrong way,” I was told.

Maybe that’s why he slid.

Benning did point out some issues McCann has to overcome:

“He needs to work on his strength. His physical strength. He works on that, his skating will pick up the extra half step it neeeds to turn into a real good player.”

The Pensblog has had a lot of firsts, but it sure wasn’t the story of the Canucks building a Murphy bed into Torts’s office so he could take his old man naps instead of driving to Point Roberts.

That was here.

And since then I’ve been dying to get a pic of the thing, and wouldn’t you know more-open than ever Benning era begins and he hands the Provies his first gold of the season in this scene where the Torts bed was revealed at 1:05.

Benning’s face and Desjardins WTF reaction are pretty great.

The only thing greater would have been a pic of Torts curled up inside with a Dog Whisperer book clutched to his heart.

He never did use it, though.

BEST RATINGS

The last book for TEAM 1040 is in.

The morning show is up to around a 7.9 share in the key 25-54 demo. This is an impressive number when you consider the flagging interest in the Canucks. And it’s the Canucks that carry the station.

It pretty much validates the TEAM’s decision to hire Bro Jake btw.

He took a lot of crap when he took the job, but he’s worked his ass off. Not sure I’ll be doing the same when I’m his age. Cruise control, baby.

Midday comes in at 6.7 – 6.8 share.

Afternoon drive came in with a 5.6 share. There may be some meetings about that one.

BEST CONTEST

The Boat Party is coming and the TMZ branch of the Provies is offering $100 to anyone who can grab a pic of the Summer Classic.

We do hear that Boat Captain has set up a contest where you can win tickets by beating Tmart in tennis.

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